Mission of Gravity

Once the fine was paid, the spectators on the hills descended in swarms; and the conclusion about the value of the fir-cone-like fruit was amply confirmed. Barle

Many of the buyers were evidently professional merchants themselves, and had plentiful supplies of trade goods with them. Some of these were also edibles, but on their captain’s orders the crew paid these little attention. This was accepted as natural enough by the merchants; after all, such goods would be of little value to an overseas trader, who could supply his own food from the ocean but could hardly expect to preserve most types of comestibles for a long enough time to sell at home. The „spices” which kept more or less permanently were the principal exception to this rule, and none of these were offered by the local tradesmen.

Some of the merchants, however, did have interesting materials. Both the cord and the fabric in which Barle

„Then the cloth is windproof? I think I could sell this easily at home. It is hardly strong enough for practical uses like roofing, but it is certainly ornamental, particularly the colored versions. I will admit, though it is hardly good buying procedure, that this is-, the most salable material I have yet seen on this island.”

„Not strong enough?” It was Reejaaren rather than the merchant who expressed indignation. „This material is made nowhere else, and is the only substance at once strong and light enough to form the wings of our gliders. If you buy it, we will have to give it to you in bolts too small for such a purpose — no one but a fool, of course, would trust a sewn seam in a wing.”

„Of course,” Barle

„Of course, there is very little load on a glider in these latitudes,” Reejaaren agreed. „Naturally there is no point in building them stronger than necessary — here; it adds to the weight.” Barle

„Naturally,” he agreed. „I suppose with the storms you have here your surface ships must be stronger. Do they ever get flung inland the way mine was? I never saw the sea rise in that fashion before.”

„We naturally take precautions when a storm is coming. The rising of the sea occurs only in these latitudes of little weight, as far as I have been able to observe. Actually our ships are very much like yours, though we have different armament, I notice. Yours is unfamiliar to me — doubtless our philosophers of war found it inadequate for the storms of these latitudes. Did it suffer seriously in the hurricane that brought you here?”

„Rather badly,” Barle

Barle

He secured an incredible quantity of the wing fabric — Ree-jaaren either forgot to make sure it was in small bolts, or no longer considered it necessary — much of the elastic rope, and enough of the local artifacts to fill the Bree’s decks, except for the normal requirements of working space and the area devoted to a reasonable food reserve. He was rid of everything salable that he had brought to the island, with the possible exception of the flame throwers. Reejaaren had not mentioned these since he had been told they were damaged, though he had obviously recognized them as armament of some sort. Barle

With the selling completed, the crowd of local people gradually melted away; and at last there remained only the gliders and their crews, some of the latter down near the Slip and others on the hilltops by their machines. Barle

„That seems to be all I can give or take,” he said as he secured Reejaaren’s attention. „We have, I think, paid all necessary fees. Is there any objection to our departing?”

„Where do you plan to go now?”

„Southward, toward decent weight. We do not know this ocean at all, except by vague reports from some of our merchants who have ma(ie the overland journey. I should like to see more of it.” -

„Very well. You are free to go. Doubtless you will see some of us on your travels — I occasionally go south myself. Watch out for more storms.”

The interpreter, apparently the picture of cordiality, turned up the hill. „We may see you at the coast,” he added, looking back. „The fiord where you first landed has been suggested as possibly improvable to harbor status, and I want to inspect it.” He resumed his journey to the waiting gliders.

Barle